LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has collected a sum of Rs 740 million as annual and permanent commercialisation fee from various localities across the provincial capital during the current fiscal year against a target of Rs 400 million.

LDA Director Recovery Kh Muhammad Ali informed about the progress on Tuesday. He said that the LDA had intensified the ongoing recovery campaign, in its controlled areas, of collecting commercialisation fee from the owners/occupants of properties that were being used for business purposes. Special recovery teams had been constituted to go door to door for collecting the commercialisation fee from the defaulters. They also sealed the properties of the owners who failed to pay the dues, he said. He advised the people to deposit their outstanding dues without further delay so as to avoid their properties from getting sealed.

Separately, the LDA Staff of the Estate Management Directorate 2 demolished more than one hundred encroachments that were creating hurdles in the smooth flow of traffic as well as movement of the pedestrians in Sabazar area. Director Estate Management Directorate 2, Liaquat Ali Randhawa, supervised the operation during which two plots were also recovered from illegal occupants. These plots included plot No 850 L and 196 H1.